Day 6: Boat ride and final trip to the beach

I had been wanting to go on a boat to see whales, seals or to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard, or anything. We had finally decided to go on a duckmobile (a boat and car in one) and of course they were broken and not going out. So we settled on a harbor cruise on the 99 year old cruise boat "Prudence". It proved to be just right, the 3 hour whale watching trip or 2 hour ferry ride would have done some of us in. After 25 minutes some of us had had enough.

David was fascinated with the caption and how to steer the boat.

Allison thought the little toilets were the best thing about the entire cruise.

The cruise took us around Hyannis Harbor to see the homes of the rich and famous. The Kennedy's, Shriver's...

this big one is the owner of Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy.

We decided we needed one last trip to get some more seashells and go to a beach park.

We made sand art

Rode sea horses

rode dinosaurs cowgirl style

and gave underdogs to Bridget. Of course we couldn't leave without trying one more ice cream place. I think we loved the ice cream most!

Day 5: Zooquarium

Our first stop this morning was to the Zooquarium. It was part aquarium and more like a farm than zoo. We saw lots of fish and native water life...more frogs and turtles than I have ever seen in one place. Then we ventured outside to the petting zoo.

These poor sheep couldn't even see they needed a haircut badly.

We saw a nest with some baby robins. The little open mouths were so cute.

David thought this turkey was pretty cool until it started gobbling at him. We learned that this male turkey was making sure David didn't move in on his girl.

These goats knew just what to do when Aaron put the money in to get the food. He could barely get the food out without them knocking the machine over.

Allison liked these deer. She would sit and pet them and pick up corn that others had dropped to keep feeding them.

I loved to feed the Llamas, so much that I didnt' even get a picture of them. David just kept laughing at them saying they needed to go to the dentist or that they tickled when they ate out of your hand.

After going to the Cape Cod Creamery (the most fabulous peanut butter and Reese's ice cream EVER!) we went back to all go swimming. I finally got swim diapers for Bridget so we all jumped in. Bridget wasn't too happy, in fact screamed very loud and had a death grip on my arm. She sat out and was content watching, for awhile.

After changing and getting some dinner, we headed to watch the sunset over the Cape Cod Bay.

It was beautiful, but cooled off quickly. We weren't the most prepared and had NO jackets.

We went to Gray's Beach which has a very long board walk out amongst some marshes.

People were out canoeing and enjoying the sunset. The natives told us that most go out among the marsh to catch clams and crabs. They also told us if we had a chicken leg and a piece of string we could throw it over the side of the boardwalk and catch a crab. We'll have to try in next time.

It was a beautiful night.

Day 4: National Seashore and Provincetown

On the East coast of the cape you can find the National Seashore with beautiful cliffs of sand where the Atlantic Ocean is slowly eroding the land away. We stopped at multiple spots along the way up to the tip. Our first spot was Fort Hill. We took a Red Maple Swamp trail through a swamp and ended over looking a marsh land.

Most of the walk David and Allison held hands and were so excited to point things out to each other. They both got quite good at identifying poison ivy.

This row of boats were ready to be used to navigate through the wetlands. Originally the Native Americans used this area to get food and lived off the seafood in the marsh.

As we left to the next spot, we saw a turtle crossing the road. The kids thought it was so neat that all the cars slowed down and drove around it so he didn't get hurt.

Nauset Light. I was determined to see as many lighthouses as possible and hoped to get in one.
There was a school field trip ending as David and I approached the light house. It is independently owned, but the man was kind enough to let us go up as he was going up to close the port holes.

The view was beautiful, we didn't realize then how up much of a cliff we were on.

Down the road are the 3 Sisters. They use to be the light houses that were functioning where Nauset is. They have been moved and are now historical. The school was just finishing here, so again we were able to sneak in and go through, which are usually closed.

The middle one is the only one with the top still on, however no light. It was sure hot up there though!

Our next stop was Marconi Beach. The steps down to the beach had been wiped out with all the winter weather. We stopped at the spot were Marconi sent the first wireless telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean. We looked down and saw the cliffs of sand. David was determined to get down to the beach. We had to drive down the road a couple of miles to another beach that had access.

When we got there we had so much fun. The waves were powerful, but beautiful.

We even saw a seal swimming around. The seals head is the black spot just left of center.

Bridget liked the sand on her feet.

The sand was more coarse, but made good piles the kids said.
We stopped at another light house, but the kids were to short to be able to go up, so they gave us free coupons to come back when they are taller. I guess we will have to go back. Hope I can remember where I put the coupons.

Our final stop was at Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown. It was the spot where the pilgrims first landed and actually signed the Mayflower Compact.

The tower is the tallest point on Cape Cod at 252 feet tall. It is also the tallest all granite structure in the US. The view was beautiful!

It only took about 15 minutes to go up, with 116 stairs and 66 ramps.

It was SO windy at the top. It made David and Allison go crazy.

There was a museum as part of it. This huge whale jaw bone was amazing to walk through.

The grounds were great too. Aaron and David became fans of Adirondack chairs.